Horror for Christmas

by Richard Dalby

Christmas is the time to curl up by the fire with a collection of stories designed to make your flesh creep. Some are new stories, specially commissioned for this volume, such as Basil Copper's chilling 'Wish You Were Here', in which the postman delivers messages from beyond the grave. The author of Psycho, Robert Bloch, contributes 'The Night Before Christmas', a powerful tale not to be read by those of a nervous disposition.

Others are by firm favourites such as Nigel Kneale, author of the classic Quatermass. His story 'The Stocking' tells of a Christmas visit from the furry, green-eyes, slithery, Minkeys. W.W. Jacobs, the master of the hair-raising short story, is represented by 'Jerry Bundler', one of his most compelling tales of terror. From another time and another place comes Sabine Baring-Gould's 'Mustapha', set in Egypt, which tells of a man tricked into damnation.

A wide range of stories are included in Horror for Christmas—from the cosily creepy to the truly horrific—to make a treat for Christmas that no one will want to miss.

Foreword (Horror for Christmas) (1992) - Richard Dalby.
Christmas Eve (1975) - R. Chetwynd-Hayes.
Jerry Bundler (1897) - W. W. Jacobs.
Mustapha (1894) - Sabine Baring-Gould.
Tarnhelm (1929) - Hugh Walpole.
The Crown Derby Plate (1933) - Marjorie Bowen.
The Greater Arcana (1992) - Ron Weighell.
The Night Before Christmas (1980) - Robert Bloch.
The Sinister Inn (1931) - F. S. Smythe.
The Spider (1951) - F. McDermott.
The Stocking (1949) - Nigel Kneale.
The Visiting Star (1966) - Robert Aickman.
To Dance By the Light of the Moon (1986) - Stephen Gallagher.
Wish You Were Here (1992) - Basil Copper.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Christmas, Fiction, Anthologies, Holiday

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 1992

About the author

Richard Dalby (1949-2017) was an editor and literary researcher.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.19⭐

Foreword • essay by Richard Dalby ✔️
Jerry Bundler • (1897) by W. W. Jacobs 4⭐
Mustapha • (1894) by Sabine Baring-Gould 4.25⭐
The Sinister Inn • (1931) by F. S. Smythe 3.25⭐
Tarnhelm • (1929) by Hugh Walpole 4.5⭐
The Crown Derby Plate • (1933) by Marjorie Bowen 4⭐
The Stocking • (1949) by Nigel Kneale 5⭐
The Spider • (1951) by F. McDermott 4⭐
The Visiting Star • (1966) by Robert Aickman 3.75⭐
Christmas Eve • (1975) by R. Chetwynd-Hayes 3.5⭐
The Night Before Christmas • (1980) by Robert Bloch 4⭐
The Greater Arcana • (1992) by Ron Weighell 4.25⭐
Wish You Were Here by Basil Copper 5⭐
To Dance by the Light of the Moon • (1986) by Stephen Gallagher 5⭐

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gruesome and chilling collection of wintry and festive tales.
All centred around the holiday period and new year.
Stories of ghosts and the supernatural, murder, creepy spectral postcards and many more.
Some are quite short, some quite long but all diverse and to suit each taste.
A great anthology with some really stand out offerings.
Read this aloud with my niece in the run up to Christmas and we thoroughly enjoyed it..

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A varied collection of supernatural/horror stories, of varied quality and scariness. The only commonality is that they take place in the Christmas season.

[Kathleen Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly entertaining and shiver inducing read. Perfect for those cold winter nights, to read in front of the fire with a lovely drop of splosh. Highly recommneded.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

13 enjoyable short Christmas stories starting from the early 1900's to about 1980.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining collection. I particularly liked "Wish You Were Here" by Basil Cooper. Who would have thought postcards could be so sinister.

[Shawn]

PLACEHOLDER REVIEW

In "The Sinister Inn" by F.S. Smythe, two Alpine travelers, skiing in the teeth of a snowstorm on Christmas Eve, find shelter at a strange inn where the innkeepers are nervous and do not seem to want to offer them any help, and then only begrudgingly. And then, that night, they are attacked in their room by an animalistic intruder... and learn the innkeepers' dark secret. This is an odd story - it seems to be something you expect (without giving it away) - but then becomes very mundane and almost prosaic, while still upsetting. Odd.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mistletoe & Mayhem is another holiday-themed anthology edited by Richard Dalby. This collection takes readers on a more grim and ghostly journey than his Crime for Christmas. I thought I had picked up another mystery collection and missed the small print that says "Horrific Tales for the Holiday," so I got an unexpected shiver or two up the spine when I began reading this one. "The Stocking" by Nigel Kneale is a particularly disturbing little story about the furry, green-eyed Minkeys who visit a little boy on Christmas Eve--one that I might have by-passed had I known what was in store (yes, I'm a bit of a weenie when it comes to creepy horror). Some of the stories were quite good in a chilling sort of way...and I'd actually rate this collection a bit higher than the previous one. These authors are compelling storytellers even if they are a bit more bloodthirsty than my usual fare. ★★★ and 3/4.

Here are a few of my favorites:
"Jerry Bundler" by W. W. Jacobs: A group of men sit up one Christmas attempting to scare one another with ghost stories...until one man tells a tale that seems to be coming true.

"Tarnhelm" by Hugh Walpole: A young boy is sent to Cumberland to spend Christmas with his uncles. He is haunted by dreams and waking visions of a ghastly yellow dog. Or is it just a dream?

"The Crown Derby Plate" by Marjorie Bowen: Martha Pym tells her cousin that she's never seen a ghost, but she would like to. When she hears that a neighbor of her cousin has a fabulous china collection, she decides to drop in for a visit--never suspecting that she just might get her wish.

"Wish You Were Here" by Basil Copper: When a man inherits an old family house and begins to restore it, he begins to receive musty antique postcards from a distant, dead relative which seem to herald an unearthly arrival.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Paul Pensom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fair collection of stories dating from the '40's up to the early '90's, when this book was published. Tone, setting and subject vary greatly, the only unifying theme being 'Christmas'. Stand outs were WW Jacobs' atmospheric shaggy dog story 'Jerry Bundler', 'The Stocking', a supremely nasty account of neglect by Nigel 'Quatermass' Neale, and F McDermott's 'The Spider' a nightmarish, cautionary traveller's tale.

[J William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thirteen stories, from Victorian to modern (Horror for Christmas was first published in 1992). I particularly enjoyed the following: The Crown Derby Plate (by Marjorie Bowen), The Greater Arcana (by Ron Weighell), and To Dance by the Light of the Moon (by Stephen Gallagher).

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horror

[Leena · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cozy collection of spooky Christmas short stories. Fun to read by the fire on cold nights.

[Pam Bales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories, good read